Growing up, I fell in love with the saints as I listened to the stories my parents would read to me many nights before bed. In learning about their lives, there is a little secret that becomes clearly noticeable once you begin hearing their stories. I was taught this secret early in my childhood, but I want to share it with you. Because the truth is, if the whole world knew it, we would have many more saints.
However, I have to forewarn you – this secret will not make sense if you don’t care to let God into every part of your life and heart. It takes great humility to understand the secret I am about to reveal to you. Sometimes our sinful ways and unexamined hearts prevent us from fully understanding and accepting the gifts God wants to share with us.
So if you find yourself asking ‘why is this necessary’ in response to what I say, well then you’re asking the wrong question. The right response should not be a ‘why’ stemming from doubt and an inability to understand, but rather, a ‘thank you’ proclaimed out of trust and deep gratitude to God.
In all sincerity, it takes the heart of a child to receive and understand this secret to holiness. For this secret is the greatest gift God has given us after the gift of Himself in the Eucharist.
The Secret
So then. What is the secret to the lives of the greatest saints? What is this great gift I am speaking about?
It is nothing less than a true relationship with the mother of our Lord.
All of the saints had the deepest and most child-like disposition towards her. I intentionally use the words ‘deepest’ and ‘child-like’ because they imply something much more than just saying our Hail Mary’s and hanging a Rosary on our dashboard (for those of you who are Catholic).
To have child-like devotion to Mary means we pray through her with our hearts and not just with our lips. It means we listen in prayer as much as we speak! In the same way children cling to their mother, we should cling to Mary and go to her in everything – our sorrows as well as our joys.
Some of you may be asking why, and I will address that in a second. But for those of you who already desire a deeper relationship with Our Lady, we need to stop rapid-firing through our Rosary as if it’s some checkbox and remember that prayer is a dialogue. It is a time to meditate and contemplate Our Lord’s life, death, and Resurrection, all while holding Our Lady’s hand. That is the Rosary.
We often forget that Our Lord and His mother are present just as they were 2000 years ago…just in a different manner. We simply lack the eyes of faith to see it. Let me give you an example of what I mean when I say we lack the eyes of faith…
Eyes of Faith
If you knew our Lord was going to arrive at your home this evening to join you for dinner at 5 o’clock sharp, wouldn’t you cancel all the plans you have in order to be there??
Absolutely! Who wouldn’t want to physically meet the man who died for our sins!
Follow up question: Why then can’t we make it more of a priority to go to Mass as often as possible to receive our Lord in the Eucharist?
If you are Catholic like me, do we not believe the Eucharist is truly our Lord’s actual Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity?
[ctt template=”3″ link=”sgr03″ via=”yes” ]”If you knew our Lord was going to arrive at your home this evening to join you for dinner, wouldn’t you cancel all plans and be there? So why can’t we make it more of a priority receive Christ in the Eucharist?” // Justin Kuhlman #beautifuldepths[/ctt]
Instead of just physically meeting Christ for dinner, we get to physically AND spiritually become ONE with Him in receiving His Body and Blood! Not just meet Him, but receive Him and become one with Him! What a gift! How incomprehensible.
But do we really believe in that reality? That’s the ultimate question – if we truly believe it.
It is difficult to understand why we should turn to Mary if we don’t even understand why we should make the Eucharist the center of our lives as Catholics. These are the fundamental truths of our faith. So if we don’t understand their importance, then we should revisit those reasons through Scripture, learning and asking questions, and most importantly, through prayer. We cannot possess eyes of faith without prayer.
In fact, the best teachers for possessing eyes of faith are children! Why else do you think Christ said we must have the heart of a child to enter the Kingdom of Heaven? It is because they trust in complete faith and abandonment. We often lack that same trust.
Giving Your Life to Mary
Now, by no means do I claim to be an expert on Mary, but I do claim to know one reality – the people who I look up to the most in my life, the people who CLEARLY are the most loving people I have ever met, the people who I know will be saints one day – they all share one thing in common: they have given their lives entirely to Our Lady.
Let me repeat that. They have given their lives entirely to Our Lady.
Why? Let me explain with another question…
Why did God choose from ALL mankind a particular virgin to bear God in her very womb? Such a reality is perhaps the greatest mystery of our salvation! That lady has got to be pretty darn special!!
And I’m not talking about ‘special’ like when your mom tells you that you are special (you are). I am talking about special in the sense that a woman chosen for that purpose has got to be the greatest creature God ever made if He chose her to bring Himself into the world. She must be the most special person to have ever walked this earth if she was found worthy to receive God into her womb.
Accept the Gift
So if you’re asking yourself, ‘why is it necessary to turn to Mary?’ I’d respond by asking you – why was it necessary for God to give his very Son to Mary?
The point is that it wasn’t necessary! Nothing God does is necessary. Everything He does is a gift given out of love. We shouldn’t respond to Our Lady’s special role by questioning and dismissing it, but rather, by contemplating it with love and gratitude.
[ctt template=”3″ link=”wL_17″ via=”yes” ]”We shouldn’t respond to Our Lady’s special role by questioning and dismissing it, but rather, by contemplating it with love and gratitude.” // Justin Kuhlman #beautifuldepths #soulstory[/ctt]
Now some of you may be saying, ‘okay, fine – Mary obviously must have been special, but that doesn’t mean I have to turn to her and give my life to her.” You’re exactly right – you don’t have to. No one has to do anything. She is a gift from God. Everything we have in this life, including faith, is a gift. Gifts can be opened and cherished or they can be refused and discarded. The choice is yours. If you don’t take my word for it that she is a gift to us and the greatest gift to us, take her Son’s words instead…
Behold Your Mother
Imagine our Lord on the Cross. He is dying, gasping for air in his final moments. He has given so much for us already – sermons, miracles, sweat and tears – and now He is giving His very life for us, which is about to end.
In his final moments, right before He commends his spirit to the Father, His heavy eyes look down upon the earth one final time as He turns his gaze towards a disciple standing next to His mother…He speaks to them for the very last time,
“Woman, behold your son…son, behold your mother.”
That disciple is you. That disciple is me. Before He expired, what was Our Lord’s final gift to us? It was His mother. As little children do, we must entrust ourselves to our heavenly mother every day of our lives and we will surely become the saints we are called to be.
Why? Because she always leads us to her Son.
God love you!
“Mary is the Mother of Jesus and the Mother of all of us even though it was Christ alone who reposed on her knees…If he is ours, we ought to be in his situation; there where he is, we ought also to be and all that he has ought to be ours, and his mother is also our mother.” – Martin Luther
ABOUT JUSTIN
Justin is a third-year medical student at Florida State University. He earned his college degree in 2015 from Belmont Abbey College where he competed on the men’s basketball team for three years. Justin (or J.J. as most people call him) is also my older brother. While I’m still a little bitter about his choice in med school (go gators), he’s always been a role model in my life. Having siblings like him pursuing holiness makes the journey to heaven a whole lot easier and more enjoyable. So thanks J.J. for being you and sharing the secret of the saints with us today!
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